Fiat Lux is Montreal-based duo
AUN's return to dark ambient label Cyclic Law after several albums on Denovali Records. Musically, it continues on the path they've been wandering down since the mid-2000s, blending ambient drone with shoegaze and industrial textures, but with a clarity and focus that hadn't been fully developed before. The doom metal elements present in their sound circa 2010's VII have been jettisoned, and the cosmic synthesizer elements of some of their previous releases are more prominent, especially during the album's second half. "Crystal Towers" features a marching, static-covered beat along with beautiful glacial guitar drones, coming close to the shoegaze-leaning IDM of labels such as n5MD. "Resistance Underground" features an even clearer beat along with lush, chilling synths and guitars, somewhat resembling a snowbound, slo-mo interpretation of the Detroit techno collective alluded to in the track's title. Beatless tracks such as "Radiation" have sort of a psychedelic stargazing feel to them, covering
Steve Roach-like ambience with layers of crackling distortion to breathtaking effect.
Fiat Lux is a far cry from
AUN's earliest, noisiest releases, introducing much more light into their sound than before, and resulting in some of their most beautiful work. ~ Paul Simpson